#like she should have been their leliana

[pirateofrohan]

Mass Effect really missed a trick making Ashley Williams straight.

[crows-of-buckets]

Guys. I think that Aviae/Morrigan may be endgame... I'm romancing her with the bi companions mod and this shit got me kicking my feet... I'm only at the very very beginning but

THEY MAKE ME ILL IM GONNA THROW UP OUYGHGGH

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

pausing your regularly scheduled drama to announce that camp tensions are finally relaxing ~

[potatoesandsunshine]

the herald of andraste as like... "i don't want to hold this thing but they won't let me put it down" is still so good. auaaagh

[astrxealis]

back again ! ywehaw cowbaby :3

[anneapocalypse]

I cannot help feeling like the tendency to see Inquisition!Leliana in stark contrast to Origins!Leliana has led to some people forgetting what... Leliana is actually like in Origins.

In fairness, as in all Dragon Age games some very revealing character moments happen in party banter which makes it easy to miss. But the gentle-hearted mystic who desires only to draw others unto the love of the Maker has never been all that Leliana is, and it's always been in direct conflict with the side of her that is not only adept at intrigue and yes, violence, but enjoys those things. This is the central conflict of her whole character, and it's not a trivial conflict, because there is not one simple answer to who Leliana truly is. She is both of these things. She is deeply religious and finds comfort in her faith, and thinks it should bring comfort to others as well. She's also prone to gossip and pettiness and all the qualities that helped her thrive as a bard.

There's this one particularly revealing piece of banter with Alistair if the Warden is in a romance with Morrigan:

Alistair: So have you heard? Morrigan and him are... you know. Leliana: Have you nothing better to do than to spread idle gossip? And besides, he can probably hear us both. You're not being very discreet. Alistair: No, look, he's not even paying attention. Leliana: Hmmm. maybe. You don't... think that he's serious about it, do you? The woman is a vile fiend. Alistair: Well, look here, now who's an idle gossip? Me-ow! Leliana: You're the one who started this, I might remind you. And I'm... well, I'm ending it!

I once had the especially entertaining experience of getting this banter, and minutes later hearing Leliana turn to Morrigan to give her the "It's so nice that you're together, isn't love wonderful?" line. But whether or not you have the pleasure of hearing them back to back, I think this dialogue make it pretty clear that while Leliana would like not to think of herself as a gossip, it takes very little prompting from Alistair to get her to slip back into that mean girl persona. And Alistair (who is more perceptive than he often gets credit for), calls her on it immediately, clearly embarrassing Leliana--who realizes that her mask has slipped.

I don't think it follows from this that Leliana necessarily hates Morrigan unilaterally. There's something much more complex going on between them, in my opinion, because they are such distinct opposites in upbringing and personality. Both Leliana's faith and her life of courtly intrigue are nonsense to Morrigan, who neither believes in the Maker nor has much patience for intricate social graces (at least, not yet). Meanwhile, I think Morrigan's outward self-possession and the sense of power she exudes is a source of both fascination and frustration for Leliana, who thinks she understands power, both social and divine--but finds in Morrigan a kind she cannot fully comprehend. (I also think you can definitely feel some sexual tension into their banter, especially the much-beloved banter about the velvet dress.) Ultimately, both of them are very concerned with power, but approach that concept very differently. And Leliana responds to this clash of ideals in a particular way because her own self-image is so conflicted.

As all great Dragon Age foils do, Leliana and Morrigan needle one another, push each other's buttons, challenge one another's sense of self, and in doing so reveal one another in their complexity and sometimes in their ugliness. It is perhaps easy to write this off as the tired trope of women being unable to get along with one another, or conversely to claim that they get along just fine and fandom has fabricated the tensions between them; I think to do either of those things diminishes a genuinely complex and sticky relationship that serves to reveal a lot about both characters.

[fangsandfeels]

Bioware writing team has a comfy, sheltered life and it shows

I'm sorry, but how come that the only people Inquisitor sent to look for Solas were Varric and Harding? How come that the only people recruited in 10 years of pursuing Solas were Neve and Rook? Do the writers understand that this is NOT how a serious effort looks like?

What about Leliana? Divine or not, she is still Sister Nightingale with an immense spywork. You'd think she won't mobilize everything she has to track Solas and his followers?

What about Josephine? What, she decided "nah, I'm done" and didn't use any of her diplomatic talents and connections to let the Inquisitor's agents have access, permissions or information they need?

What about Dorian? As a political figure, you'd think he will be the first Minrathous contact for the Inquisitor allies, the one arranging things and providing insights?

What about Cassandra and her Seekers? Isn't she interested in stopping another world-ending threat?

What about Sera and her sabotaging potential? If she organized the group of people for performing vigilante acts, people who are her eyes and ears, how come nobody from her group is helping with the effort?

I get it why Varric takes part in it - he knew Solas, the Inquisitor trusts him and his judgement, but for the game to imply that all the responsibility was lumped on Varric's shoulders is fucking disgraceful. I get it writers, Varric is popular character, and you would use him as bait to your heart's content, but the context you've created implies that Varric might have been the only one to take the threat seriously, while the Inquisitor and the rest were doing God knows what.

Varric should have been handing the Rook information on all the contacts they can recruit, all the useful agents, all the people to work with, not tell them to ask Neve because she might know someone because detective (Neve is a good character, but the fact that people who were supposed to spend 10 years chasing Solas look up to her for finding them contacts is appalling).

"Oh, but all these people were in the previous parts and we don't want to mention previous parts because muh new players" - well, you shot yourselves in the foot. Maybe, just maybe, you should have AT LEAST cared more about the choices made in DAI.

Congrats.

[dalishious]

Dragon Age: Origins is still great today, and you should give it a try

I want to preface this post with an important disclaimer: I am not about gatekeeping, and I think that ultimately, you should play or skip whatever Dragon Age games you want. If even after this post you feel like Dragon Age: Origins just isn’t for you, that’s fine! That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the Dragon Age media you do want to consume, and it certainly doesn’t mean you’re any less valid a fan. But I personally adore Dragon Age: Origins to this day, and I would love to see more modern gamers give it a chance, despite it being from 2009.

It’s a great introduction to the world of Thedas

Dragon Age: Origins had the tall order of being the first in a potential franchise, yet it climbed those heights and beyond. It perfectly balances the need to explain the world setting and tell a story within that world at the same time, by organizing the plot into puzzle pieces. You, the protagonist, have to recruit different factions into your cause to save the kingdom of Ferelden, so each piece of the game has a different focus on those factions. It spoon-feeds the player information at an easy to understand and absorb pace.

Dragon Age: Origins also makes good use of codex entries for those of you who are big lore buffs and want even more information. Yet at the same time, it does not overly rely on the codex; all the most crucial parts of the lore that you need to know are included in your interactions with characters and plot.

The player gets to shape the story

The nature of those puzzle pieces also means that you have huge control over the story from start to finish, because the puzzle itself is shaped by you! The outcomes of each piece form the blueprint of the climax. The end of the game is reactive to the choices you make in the story throughout. (Mind you, a lot of those choices have been retconned in later games, but still, within the confines of Dragon Age: Origins itself, it’s still fun to see the outcomes of your decisions.)

The story itself is great

I would consider Dragon Age: Origins to have the most straightforward premise of all the Dragon Age games released thus far, with a strong identity linking the different main quests all together. You are a newly recruited Grey Warden, left to unite Ferelden against the big bad Blight after 99% of the Order within the nation is wiped out in a catastrophic battle. You may get caught up in dwarven politics, ancient curses, demonic possession, and plenty more along the way, but no matter where you find yourself, your motivation always falls back to that ultimate responsibility.

The characters are also great

Almost all the companions you’re able to collect along the way are very easy to love, or at least appreciate them for what they are.

Alistair is also a new grey warden. He is struggling with grief over the loss of his mentor, and the weight of having no control over his identity his whole life.

Morrigan is a witch who grew up isolated in the woods with no one but her abusive mother for company. Now she must learn to interact with others, and dependant on the player, perhaps even make a friend, lover… or enemy.

Leliana is a bard from Orlais, whose faith told her to assist the grey warden plight. But beneath the demure outward appearance, she has a much darker past she’s running away from.

Sten is a Qunari warrior who was taught that outside his culture, everything is backwards and nonsense, but he cannot return home until he has restored his soul by recovering his lost sword. Along the way, he may learn to appreciate or despise Ferelden.

Zevran was enslaved by the Antivan Crows as a child and made into an assassin. If the player can chip away at his nonchalant mask, they will find his past has left a lot more scars on him than he thought it safe to admit.

Wynne is a mage from the Circle who is struggling to deal with the nature of age, death, and life purpose.

Shale is a golem who was once under complete and total control by her former master, now learning what it’s like to be free, and wanting to uncover her forgotten past before losing that freedom.

Oghren is there too, unfortunately.

And the player character really feels like they are of your own creation. The choices you make, little and small, offer a lot to shape whatever kind of protagonist you want. Additionally, the benefit of starting the game with a different origin, and playing out that origin before getting recruited into the grey wardens, offers a lot of prompting to get into the roleplay!

The datedness can be easily upgraded with modding anyway

Do you find the combat clunky? There’s mods for that. Do you find the graphics too bland? There’s mods for that. Do you wish you could kiss Alistair as a man or Morrigan as a woman? There’s mods for that, too. Dragon Age: Origins is very easy to mod; most of them you just drop the files into your override folder and start playing. Otherwise, you use the DA Modder app for DAZIP files, which is also not that complicated.

A lot of people consider Skyrim to be dated without mods, too. I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with appreciating the ability to mod a game, as a positive point.

If you want to play, make sure you use LAA though!

Large Address Aware is a must-have on PC for Dragon Age: Origins.

For GoG or EA App/Origin users: You can just run LAA like normal!

For Steam users: You need THIS first

[revvethasmythh]

blackwall's whole situation is hilarious to me because he's posing as the warden-constable of orlais and this is never interrogated by anyone. what the fuck do you mean the warden-constable of orlais is chilling in my adventuring party after apparently being no-contact with any other wardens for multiple years and was found living in fereldan for some reason. leliana has a file of warden-constable blackwall's speech to his soldiers (in orlais!) during the fifth blight when blackwall outright tells you he was in fereldan during the blight and then after the truth comes out cullen is like "yeah even leliana didn't know blackwall was lying because she has a blind spot when it comes to the wardens". girlfriend that is not a blind spot that is a black hole. do we not communicate did i not tell you that blackwall said he was in fereldan. what breakdown in communication had to occur to allow this ruse to continue

also if he's the warden-constable of orlais that means he's clarel's second in command and this NEVER comes up. you leave the warden contact behind in the fade and some junior warden scuttles up to you like, "but we have no one left of any significant rank!" okay well the guy claiming to be warden-constable is literally stood five feet to my left, how's that. no one's ever like "hey blackwall wanna take over command of the remaining wardens" despite the fact that his own cover story outright makes him their commander. like the way blackwall lies is hilarious but also he should NOT have feasibly been able to get away with this. claiming to be the warden-constable is a level of audacity rarely witnessed in nature. what the fuck even happened here

[bg3daydream]

Frescos and Flowers

Solas x Inquisitor Lavellan Fanfiction.

Summary: Inquisitor Lavellan hadn't expected Solas, the mage who made her heart flutter, to know how to paint frescos, much less the reason why he was doing it. Neither was she expecting that she'd try to sneak flowers into Solas' quarters, hoping to make Skyhold feel more like home...and maybe make him smile.

Notes and tags: Fluff, Solas being frustrating with his push and pull about his feelings for Lavellan, Fade-kisses. I just wanted to write something sweet.

Words: 5k

Inquisitor Lavellan walked into the rotunda that Solas had claimed as his space, looking for the mage. 

The room was empty, but Lavellan's eyes were instantly drawn to a fresco starting to take shape on one of the walls.

The painted wall was a stark contrast to the other, worn-out and bare walls of the room, which was empty except for the desk full of books and papers that Solas had placed in the middle of the rotunda, some old, broken furniture covered with sheets, and a big couch in which the Inquisitor was sure Solas slept in, instead of claiming a bedroom.

The fresco wasn’t there before, the walls had been as bare and run-down as the rest of Skyhold…was Solas painting it? It looked like so, the paint seemed still fresh and there were brushes and bottles of pigment on a small table placed against the wall. It took Lavellan by surprise, she hadn’t seen many frescos, much less met anyone who knew how to paint those, and she hadn’t imagined it was one of Solas’ skills and interests.

She was still observing the new painting when the door opened and Solas walked in, holding another bottle of pigment, which Lavellan imagined was what he’d gone out looking for. 

“Inquisitor,” he greeted, surprised to see her standing there, yet polite as always.

Lavellan almost jumped back from the fresco. She didn’t know why she felt like she’d been caught red-handed, it wasn’t like Solas could demand people not to walk in and see his painting, otherwise he should have chosen a spot that wasn’t right under the library were mages worked and under Leliana and her spies’ quarters. There were bound to be people coming and going from time to time…though, probably they knocked, while she’d just walked right in… hopefully Solas didn’t mind?

“I, uh… I was looking for you,” she explained.

“Something in the matter?”

“Nothing bad, Josephine asked me to let you know she wants us to meet to talk about a noble house she thinks we could talk into helping the Inquisition.”

Solas nodded with a hum, heading towards the fresco and placing the bottle of pigment next to the others.

“I didn’t know you painted,” Lavellan said, to which Solas just nodded again, picking up a small piece of wood that he seemed to be using as a palette to mix the color pigments. “I imagined you were all the time here reading, doing research, studying…brooding…” she teased and Solas gave her an amused look over his shoulder. “Yet here I find you, devoting your time to a hobby.”

“We all have our vices, Inquisitor.” The corner of his eyes crinkled in the way they sometimes did when she managed to amuse him, a gesture that Lavellan found adorable and wished to see more often.

 “You’re good at it, I like it.”

“Thank you, Inquisitor, your words are appreciated.”

“I have a name, you know…” Lavellan sighed…She didn’t know why it bothered her that he’d call her just ‘Inquisitor’ all the time but it did.

“I know.” There it was again, that twinkle of amusement in Solas’ eyes. “And it's Inquisitor, judging by how people speak about you around here.”

He was joking, she knew it, and yet…yet he was painfully right. Sometimes it seemed as if she herself were disappearing, drowning, swallowed by her new role…everyone called her “Inquisitor” now, or still “Herald of Andraste” despite her protests, not even at Haven had anyone called her by her name…

The amusement was gone from Solas’ eyes, replaced with concern as he noticed the look on her face, that she couldn’t mask. “I'm sorry, lethallan, I didn't mean to upset you.”

“I know.” Lavellan nodded. “Besides you’re right. Inquisitor, that’s my name now…better than Herald of Andraste anyway,” she couldn’t help the bitterness in her last words. “I like it when you call me lethallan, though.”

She smiled at Solas, and when he returned it, she felt dancing twirls in her belly.

“I will do it more often, then.”

His words made the twirls in her stomach dance even more, and Lavellan turned to focus her attention on Solas’ fresco instead of his face, trying to keep the damned butterflies under control.

“So…what will this be?” She asked as she gestured at the fresco.

Solas briefly looked at her and then back at the fresco, his demeanor changing. Despite being an elf and not only a mage but an apostate, dangerous things to be at that time, Solas always seemed confident and self-assured, but it looked now like her question had made him uncomfortable.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Lavellan said tentatively…maybe his art was something personal and private for him. Then, Solas hadn’t chosen the best place to paint, though, people would be seeing it for sure.

“It’s…” Solas began and stopped, looking at the fresco. “It’ll be the Inquisition story, your story.”

“Oh…” Lavellan didn’t know what to say, she had not expected that…was Solas painting what she was doing, for real?

Solas turned to face her then, looking at her with an intensity that took her by surprise.

“People have a tendency to remember things as they want, not as they were…or to forget them, or twist them, turning them into something else, something that suits them, far from the truth. I don’t want that to happen to you, so I wanted to paint your story, your actions.”

Lavellan still didn’t know what to say, it wasn’t what she had expected, at all.

 “I…I uh…thank you, Solas…that’s…” She fumbled to find words and gave up. “It’s not only my story, though, it’s all ours.” She gestured around. “I’m not doing this alone, you all are helping me…I know I couldn’t do this on my own.”

“Mmh…I think you don't give yourself the credit you deserve, Inqui-...lethallan.”

His words combined with the way he looked at her, the fresco he was painting and why he was doing it…the dancing twirls in Lavellan’s belly were getting worse and her heart did something funny. 

“Sweet talker…” She murmured.

It was the same she’d called him that night at the Fade, when they had talked as they walked what had looked like Haven, before she kissed him and he kissed her back. 

The memory of Solas’s lips on hers, his hands and arms firmly holding her close to him while he kissed her with an intensity she hadn't expected, as if he were starved of her… It did nothing to stop the twirls and the beating of her heart, if anything it made the warmth growing in her belly worse. 

She wasn’t sure if Solas’ mind went to the same place, but something flashed through his eyes for a second, before he cleared his throat and turned away from her and back to the fresco. Lavellan hoped she hadn’t made him uncomfortable with her unfortunate choice of words.

“I’ll leave you to it, while we still have free time for a change.”

Solas nodded. “Dareth Shiral, lethallan.”

*

That night, Lavellan was sitting on her new bed, her back against the wall and her knees hugged to her chest, looking around the room. She was still not used to it. It was massive, the biggest bedroom she’d ever seen, seeming excessive for a single person.

She knew she should be grateful that she’d been given such a room, the best at Skyhold, but she couldn’t help her discomfort… It was so big and so empty, it felt cold and foreign. 

The whole of Skyhold felt empty, worn-out, and cold, though improvements were being made. Josephine had gotten workers to fix walls, floors, and roofs and they were working swiftly. Some of her people had also managed to make their spots feel lived in, despite having moved in not so long ago.

Josephine had her big and pretty desk near a fireplace, surrounded by bookcases that, just like the ones Cullen had in his space, were somehow already full to the brim of books. Sera had claimed a room at the tavern, filling it with trinkets, cushions, and what-not, and the Iron Bull and his Chargers were making themselves comfortable at the tavern too. Dorian seemed to take great pleasure in complaining about his quarters but he did seem to enjoy decorating it with what he assured were important stuff but looked just like trinkets to the Inquisitor, and with even more books.

Lavellan hadn’t done much to improve her room, though, she didn’t have anything of her own to fill it. Some people had sent gifts, but she’d felt weird about it, and she’d told Josephine to just place the stuff around Skyhold as she pleased.

Josephine had arranged some things in Lavellan's room too, though, trying to make it more homey, she knew it, and she appreciated it even if she still felt odd alone in that room. 

Now there was a tapestry hanging on the wall in front of her bed, a fluffy rug, a trunk with clothes, a small desk empty except for quill and paper she hadn’t used yet, and a bookshelf with some books chosen by Josephine. Most books were about history, etiquette, but it amused Lavellan to find a copy of High in Hightown by Varric. It’d be the first book she read as soon as she had time.

Still…she missed her clan’s tents, her own tent, her things, her trinkets…she had thought herself independent, yet there she was, missing she wasn’t even sure what… She missed the wilds, too.

The only thing she’d placed for decoration herself was a vase with some wildflowers she picked in the early morning, during the few moments she could still be alone with herself.

It was a small detail, in such a huge, empty room, but it made it feel different somehow, more like home, even.

Looking around the room again, Lavellan thought on Solas’ rotunda. It was so empty too, so cold, although probably the fresco would make it better. She felt flustered once again at what Solas had said, that he was painting her story, her actions…

Her feelings for him just grew each day, the more time she spent around him.

Solas had told her that their kiss had been a mistake, that it couldn’t be, that it was a bad idea…then he did something like that, talked to her the way he did, and sometimes he looked at her in a way…how was she supposed to stop feeling the way she did? She didn’t understand him, though, sometimes he seemed to flirt, encourage her advances, then push her away, just for the same cycle to start again…

It was maddening and yet she still felt the way she did.

Lavellan wondered what Solas was doing now, alone at his rotunda. Was he asleep and dreaming, wandering the Fade? Was he studying? Painting the fresco? Did he feel out of place in that empty, cold room too? Lavellan doubted it, probably he didn’t, but who knew…

Looking at the flowers again, the only thing that felt homey and like herself in the room, Lavellan got an idea.

*

Lavellan had waited until Solas left his rotunda, trying to look like she was not spying or up to something, and once he’d left, she’d picked up the vase of flowers that she’d arranged earlier that morning. She hoped that not many people had seen the Inquisitor picking wildflowers outside the walls before the sun was even up.

Vase in hands, she took the longer route to the rotunda, up the walls and through corridors that usually were empty, unlike the main hall and other areas of the fortress, hoping that Solas wasn't back by the time she reached the room.

She carefully checked that the rotunda was empty before walking in and rushing to place the vase with flowers on the desk that Solas had placed against the wall, the one empty of books and papers, unlike his table in the middle of the room.

Once it was done, Lavellan tried not to get distracted by the additions to Solas’ fresco and rushed out the same way she had come in before anyone, or worse, Solas himself, could walk in and catch her.

Not much later, she had a meeting with her advisors and companions, as per usual. What wasn’t usual was Solas arriving a few minutes late. He was frowning and seemed in thought, more than usual, his eyes scanning every one of them as if he suspected one of them was the culprit of the mysterious flowers that had appeared in his quarters, and Lavellan fought the impulse to smile. 

His eyes lingered on her a bit too long and Lavellan tried to keep her face neutral and not give herself away. She really should be paying attention to what Cullen was saying, though, not sneaking glances at Solas or thinking of trying to get some more flowers on his rotunda the next morning…

*

On the next day, Lavellan repeated the same process, sneaking into Solas’ rotunda with a new vase of flowers after making sure he wasn’t in. This time, she placed them on the table at the center of the room.

It seemed Solas had worked on his fresco that night, it was bigger now and with more detail than when Lavellan had gone to see him the evening before. They had talked about it, about Corypheus, about the Fade, all while Lavellan tried not to look at the vase of flowers that still stood untouched on the desk by the wall.

As she was leaving, doubt crept into her mind. Why was she doing this? Solas hadn't complained about the emptiness of the room, he probably didn’t feel like her, he didn’t need flowers…did he even like flowers? He couldn’t hate them if he hadn’t thrown out the ones she’d placed there the day before, right?

Cursing at her suddenly overthinking mind, this time Lavellan didn’t leave, and instead he took some steps up the staircase that led to the library on the next floor. She leaned over to see into the rotunda but tried to stay hidden, waiting for Solas to come back.

She didn’t have to wait long, she’d barely hidden when the door opened and Solas walked in. His eyes went instantly to the new vase of flowers on his table and… he smiled. He actually smiled. Lavellan couldn’t help her own smile at it and her heart began beating funny. 

Solas looked up from the flowers and straight to where she was hidden and so Lavellan pulled back, trying to rush up the stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. She tried to ignore the looks of the mages as she walked into the library, she knew she had a silly smile on her face, but she couldn’t help it.

He’d liked the flowers.

*

It shouldn’t feel so exciting and thrilling, to get a new vase of flowers in Solas’ quarters, but it did. Lavellan’d picked up some more for herself early that morning too.

She looked around the rotunda, pondering where to place the new vase. She knew she should be quick, Solas could come back at any moment…she felt silly at hiding like that, but giddy at the same, and the idea of giving the flowers directly to him made her flustered.

Focus. Judging by the book he’d left still open on his table, next to the vase of flowers, it didn’t seem like he was going to take long. Lavellan noticed that he was using one of the flowers that she’d first gotten him and that was already drying, as a bookmark…her heart did something funny at it.

She saw that he’d also placed one of the fresh flowers on the small table next to the fresco, where he kept his pigments and brushes…the twirls dancing in her belly were unavoidable now. She decided then that she’d place the new vase of flowers there on that small table.

“I knew it was you.”

Lavellan had barely placed the vase when she heard Solas’s voice, and she looked up to find him walking in from the corridor that led up to the library. He’d been waiting there for her just like she’d been waiting for him the day before.

He was smiling, smug yet sweet too, but Lavellan couldn’t stop how flustered she felt. “I…uh…I’m sorry,” she found herself bursting out those words, she didn’t even know why. She was not sorry.

“What…why?” Solas’ smile faltered for a second, replaced with concern, but then he was smiling softly at her again. “Don’t be. Thank you for the flowers, lethallan.”

“Did you like them?” She asked and Solas nodded.

“Of course I did.” His smile was reassuring, making Lavellan smile again. “But why all the secrecy and hiding?

“I don’t know.” Lavellan shrugged. Because it was too flustering to give him the flowers directly, perhaps. She was not going to say that. “But it was fun.” It was, indeed, she’d felt almost giddy sneaking flowers for Solas.

Solas chuckled, looking at her in a way that made her feel dancing twirls in her belly.

“Dorian’s been having fun too, every time he walks down the library he asks me who’s the admirer delivering flowers.” Solas rolled his eyes but he was smiling. “Should I tell him who’s behind the flowers?”

“No!” Lavellan wouldn’t hear the end of it if he did. “Let’s keep up the mystery.” Solas chucked again, his eyes light with amusement.

Admirer, Dorian’d said…as if someone who was besotted with Solas was leaving him the flowers. It was painfully true and yet…did she want Solas to think that? It was embarrassing, especially if he didn’t feel the same, even if sometimes it felt like he did…

“I’ve been picking flowers for my chamber too,” Lavellan said, as if that could make bringing flowers to Solas feel less intimate. “Trying to make this place more homey.”

“Skyhold is your fortress now. It should feel like your home.”

Solas was nodding to her words, but Lavellan wondered if she should have worded it differently. It was Solas who had gotten them there, who told them about that fortress which could be useful in their current predicament.

“It’s a great fortress, we’re lucky to have it,” she rushed to say. “And I’m sure it’ll feel like home in no time. It already does, with Josephine working on it…and well, with all of you here too. It feels more like home having you all around…having you…”

Lavellan trailed over, stopping her river of words and playing with one of the flowers. Was she saying too much? Being too honest? Too intense?

Without a word, Solas picked the flower she’d been playing with and placed it behind her ear, his fingers lingering on her hair for a moment. Lavellan looked at him. How he was looking at her made her breath hitch.

Solas was looking at her as if she were precious, beautiful, something to treasure. As if he, too, felt like her. He was looking at her like he did that night in the Fade, when she’d kissed him and he’d kissed her back in a way that stole her breath away, holding her so close to him she could just cling to him while they kissed, nothing but him on her mind.

She wanted him to kiss her like that again. Needed it, she’d dare to say

He was so close, he barely needed to lean in and they’d be kissing again. Lavellan placed her hands on Solas’ shoulders, gently, and for a second, it seemed like he’d kiss her, but then he pulled away, like he’d done in the Fade.

“Solas, wait, please,” she called after him.  She reached for his hand out of instinct, and was surprised when Solas not only let her hold his hand but intertwined their fingers, as if it were instinctual for him too. He was still turned half away from her. “Please, don’t leave…I thought…if I’m imposing…I’m sorry.”

“No…it’s not that.” Solas shook his head.

“What is it, then?”

Solas kept confusing her, she couldn’t understand what was going on, why he kept pulling back, when it felt like he too wanted to be close to her.

“I…I fear I’ll forget myself again.” Solas breathed out.

If that meant to deter her, it had the opposite effect, even if she still didn’t understand this situation between them, his constant pull and push. 

“Would that be so bad?”

“Yes…” Solas nodded but he sounded and looked almost sad. “Yes, it would.”

“Solas…if there’s something wrong, you can tell me,” Lavellan told him softly. 

“I…I can't…forgive me, Inquisitor.” Solas let go of her hand and turned away from her. “Thank you again for the flowers, I appreciate them.” With that, he walked out of the rotunda through the door that led up to the walls.

Lavellan watched him go, confused and frustrated, but she didn’t call for him or try to follow him, she didn’t want to press it. Part of her didn’t want to overwhelm Solas, while the other part was afraid of how Solas might react if she insisted.

He kept dodging and refusing her advances. Maybe she’d misinterpreted him and he wasn’t interested, but he was too polite to say so. But then, what was the way he looked at her sometimes…or the way he’d kissed her in the Fade, as if he couldn’t get enough of her…Lavellan felt warmer every time she remembered his kisses.

Then why did he keep refusing her…even in the Fade… Why did he keep saying that it couldn’t be, that it was a mistake. Something was going on and it drove her crazy that she couldn’t know what, that he wouldn’t tell her.

She hoped it wasn’t something silly like not wanting to risk staining the Inquisitor's reputation or having people talking about it, because she really didn’t care.

Maybe he wasn’t interested in her that way and he really meant it when he said their kiss in the fade had been a mishap.

The thought was enough to sour Lavellan’s mood for the rest of the day.

*

Lavellan wasn’t sure what had woken her. She looked around her dark room and found a vase with flowers on her nightstand table. She hadn’t put them there and she didn’t recognize the flowers nor the vase. What was going on?

“Lethallan.”

Solas' voice came from her balcony and she made his silhouette in the darkness. Had he brought her flowers? The idea was sweet but she was too confused to appreciate it. Why in the middle of the night. And how had she not woken up when he walked in, placed the flowers next to her, opened the balcony…did she really sleep so deeply?

“Solas…what’s going on, it’s the middle of the night…” Not that she’d have anything against Solas being in her room at night, in fact, it was not an unwelcoming thought, but still, the situation was…odd.

“Come.”

Lavellan got up from the bed, brows knitted together, and approached the balcony, taking the hand that Solas offered.

Looking out, Skyhold looked different, unspoiled by time.

“We’re in the Fade…” She murmured and Solas nodded. “When is this?”

“I don’t know exactly, but a long time ago…come.” Solas tugged at her hand.

He guided her through an oddly empty Skyhold. Lavellan was sure it should take them longer than it did to walk out of the fortress walls but she tried not to question it, she wasn’t sure how things worked in the Fade.

Soon she found herself in a field of flowers like the ones on the vase at her nightstand table, illuminated by the moon and the stars.

“This is so beautiful,” she said as she looked around, taking everything in. When she looked at Solas, he wasn’t looking at the field but at her. “Thank you for bringing me here.” She smiled at him.

“I knew you’d like it.” A smile tugged at Solas' lips  “You were the one barging into my dreams the last time, I thought I might come knocking on yours.”

“I still don’t know how this works but…thanks.”

They walked together through the field of flowers, with Solas still holding her hand, and the butterflies in Lavellan’s belly danced faster, faster… He’d come to her dreams to bring her flowers and to take her to a field full of them, under the moon and stars…

Lavellan stopped walking, turning to face Solas and taking his other hand. He was looking at her in that way again, like she was precious… She wanted to hold him to her, kiss him, but she didn’t want him pulling away again.

This time, it was her who let go of his hands and took a step back. Solas frowned, looking at her like a puppy who’s been denied more cuddles, and Lavellan wondered if she was evil for enjoying it a bit.

She didn’t move far, though, just enough to sit down on the ground among the flowers. “Come.” She reached towards Solas again and he took her hand, sitting down next to her.

Lavellan looked at all the flowers surrounding them, and then up at the stars shining in the dark sky. Her eyes trailed back to Solas, who was looking at her in that way that was going to be her end…

“Do you know how to make flower crowns?” She asked.

“I…” Solas blinked at her as if taken by surprise at her sudden question and Lavellan couldn’t help her smile at it. “I can’t say I do.”

“Then, let’s learn together.”

*

It took a bit, but eventually, Lavellan was happy enough with the flower crown on her hands.

“There.” Before Solas could react, she reached to place the flower crown on his head. “Pretty.” Solas rolled his eyes but…were his cheeks and ears turning pink? “My, is the wise mage Solas blushing?”

Solas scoffed, clearly flustered, but when Lavellan grinned, Solas smiled too. He took the flower crown and put it on Lavellan’s head. “Now, that is beautiful.”

“Sweet talker, always.” She wanted to kiss him so bad…

There was a moment of silence before she spoke again.

“Solas…you said the kiss was an impulsive mistake, that we shouldn’t…that there can’t be anything between you and me,” she began quietly. “But you’ve never told me why...I'm not asking you to tell me right now, but maybe someday, you’ll explain it…just…I just hope you know you can trust me.”

“Inquisitor…” Solas sighed. 

Lavellan looked at him, expecting frustration that she was asking again, but he just looked sad in a way that made her want to hold him tight.

"I think…I think you too want to kiss me again,” Lavellan told him and Solas nodded but didn’t move any closer. Lavellan reached to cup his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb when he rested it on her palm, leaning into her touch. “So do it. Do it here, in the Fade, and we can pretend it’s only a dream.”

“No.” Solas moved away from her touch. “No, you know it’s not only a dream. I won’t have you here and pretend it’s nothing when you are awake. It’s unfair to you.”

“You can have me too when we’re awake, you know,” Lavellan told him, arching an eyebrow.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know. And I’ll decide what is unfair to me.” Lavellan knew that something was going on, and she wanted Solas to explain to her what, but not right then. She was tired of cryptic excuses and tangents, of this push and pull between them. “So…stop it and just kiss me.”

She knew he wouldn’t do it if she didn’t take the first step, so she reached to cup his cheek again and leaned to kiss his lips.

For all his talk, Solas kissed her back immediately, reaching to hold her and pull her closer to his body as he’d done the first time, and she clung to him as the kiss deepened.

“This is wrong,” Solas said, pulling away, but he didn’t go far, he was still holding her tight to him and he buried his face on her shoulder.

“So you keep saying…” Lavellan murmured, placing a hand on the back of Solas’ head.

Only he could say something like that after kissing her in a way that stole her breath away, and after pulling her so close she was practically sitting on his lap. Lavellan gasped when he kissed the juncture between her shoulder and neck. 

“Because it is,” Solas said as his mouth trailed kisses over her neck. Lavellan didn’t care. She didn’t care for his words nor for his contradictions, not right then, not with his mouth on her skin and her body pressed warmth against hers.

“Hush.” If he stopped now, Lavellan felt she might just die right there in the Fade. She moved to sit more securely on his lap and she felt Solas taking a sharp breath against the skin of his neck at it. “It’s a dream.”

“You know it’s not,” Solas said and Lavellan reached to cup his face with both her hands, making him look at her and stroking his cheeks with her thumbs.

“Let’s pretend,” she whispered as she leaned to kiss his lips again.

Solas didn’t say anything else, didn’t fight it anymore, giving completely into her, kissing her deeply as he held her tight to him.

*

Lavellan woke up regretfully when the sun began to come up. No. She didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to stay in that flower field in Solas’ arms forever. But it was gone…

Now that she was awake, she couldn’t help but wonder… had it been real? Had she really been in the fade with Solas? Or had it been just a regular dream? It hadn’t felt like only a dream, but how could she know for sure? How could she be certain?

There was no vase with flowers on her nightstand table and the door of the balcony was closed, but she’d expected it, she knew that had happened in the Fade…or in the dream, if it had been just that. But it hadn’t been just a dream, had it? She really hoped not.

Lavellan spotted something on top of the trunk where she kept her clothes, and a smile spread on her face when she realized what it was.

A flower crown.

She rushed out of the bed to pick it up. It was real, and it was made not with the flowers she’d seen on the Fade but with flowers that could be found outside Skyhold walls, like the ones she’d picked for her room and for Solas. He must have sneaked in to place it there without waking her. Who else would have left her a flower crown and made it with those flowers?

Butterflies danced on her belly as she looked at the crown, carefully twirling it on her hands, a big smile on her face. She intended to wear it the whole day, everywhere.

Lavellan couldn’t wait to see Solas' face.

*

NA:

If I knew how to draw, I'd draw Solas in a flower crown.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you liked it, please let me know in a comment, and as always, reblogs are more than welcome.

Solavellan has taken over my life and mind. I love Solas character, his story, his depth, and I'm in love with his relationship with Lavellan. It's all so beautiful and tragic. I can only wish they'll get a happy ending in DATV.

I'm also incredibly grateful to Solas and Solavellan for giving me the will and imagination to write after so long.

I hope to write more Solavellan, if anyone would be interested in reading it, although writing Solas is incredibly intimidating.

Excuse my English, it’s not my first language.

[clairescotcoutts]

So, about The Veilguard.

This post is:

Long.

Spoiler full.

Read at your peril.

So.

The fact that I devoured the game in virtually less than three days should speak for itself; I was worried about the playing style, I was unsure about the combo system, and having only two companions travel alongside the MC felt a little alien to me and also added to my anxiety. (Yes, I’ve played Mass Effect, yes, I’ve been in a fighting trio before, but never in Dragon Age.) I thought, “There’s only three of us?! We’re gonna die so much and so hard.”

Turns out I didn’t die so many times as I’d expected, so yay me.

I had refused to watch anything that had to do with the plot, with the exception of the trailers, because I wanted my experience to be fresh and untainted by expectations. Of course, I had hopes — but other than that, I dove in blind and without any sense of direction.

As you know, the depths of the ocean hold both horror and beauty, so here are mine; I shall start with the horrors so all the bad air is cleared out first.

My primary horror is that, save a few points, the game very clearly follows BioWare’s own canon, in which the Hero of Ferelden must have died to stop the Fifth Blight, and thus there is no Kieran. Morrigan plays a pivotal role yet again, but her presence implies that the decisions made in previous games are… well, your own, but not the world’s own. So, no Kieran, and it is heavily suggested that it was Morrigan who drank from the Vir’Abelasan. Even if she hadn’t, turns out she ends up with a piece of Mythal inside her anyway, granted by a regretful (and finally gone) Flemeth.

Story-telling wise, well, I don’t know if it was the best choice— I just know it bummed me out a bit to find some of my decisions discarded, not considered at all.

My second horror is the absence of either Hawke or Stroud. The events at Amaranthine are mentioned, but (unless I missed a codex entry) there’s no word on what happened to the brave soul left in the Fade to fight that giant monster demon. Since I always leave Stroud behind (because Alistair is and always will be a king to me), I can’t say I’m suffering to know his fate, but it would’ve been nice to confirm something. 

At the end of Inquisition, Morrigan narrates that should Hawke live, they go to Weisshaupt, but soon all news from there ends. What happened?! Am I missing something found only in the comics or books?

Also what happened to the rest of the companions? What about the woman made Divine in Inquisition? Whether it’s Leliana, Cassandra or Vivienne, you’d think the Divine would have something to say about two ancient elven gods turning the world tits up.

What about the Qunari who are not part of the Antaam? Are they in agreement with Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain? Is Seheron torn asunder like Minrathous?

Why is nobody remarking on the fact that the Crows buy (or used to buy) people?! I love the Antivan Crows, I do, but one cannot forget Zevran and all he told us about them.

Those are my particular points of horror. 

Now, to the rest.

Veilguard is a game that doesn’t hold back. It’s out to punch you in the guts and kick you in the feelings, and boy does it do it brilliantly. The sacrifices are real. The choices are heavy and carry weight on them that slumps you down (especially if you’re extra sensitive, like me) throughout the game. The dilemma and problems your companions face are heart wrenching, and you want them all to thrive. Yes, even the one who was hardened because you can’t bloody be in two places at once. These companions are well fleshed-out, they’re alive, they’re complex and they are so beautiful to live and travel with. The emotional moments they have, I felt them, I suffered with them, I cried. I /cried/, which had never happened to me with a videogame before. And not just because this companion is my favourite or that topic hits a bit close to home— not just that. It’s because they’re amazingly written and acted out. They feel so real.

The locations are gorgeous (I especially fell in love with Treviso), and I love how much you’re able to explore. I love that you can pet animals. I love that you can interact with the world in front of you. I /love/ that you don't miss dialogue even if you get into a fight because the companions re-start conversations now.

The NPCs? My children. Isabela is fire, as always; Antoine, Evka, Viago and Teia have my whole heart. The Mourn Watch is fascinating and the Shadow Dragons are bold, united and righteous. I really like that the Veil Jumpers don’t diss on the Dalish just because they know more— they understand that, as a people, they are one. And they’re accepting of everyone, not just elves!

I simply adore Rook as a protagonist. Not just because they give purple Hawke, and I love Hawke, but because again, they feel human and real. They know this is well above their paygrade, and they’re in way over their heads, but they still step up and lead because damn, someone has to. Iron Bull would be so proud. They are fun, they are caring, they are talkative and they know they’re drowning, but can’t afford to stop swimming.

Both in Origins and Inquisition it felt as though we were The Chosen One, even if in the latter one tried to swear it off and deny any possible divine intervention, but in DA: 2 and here, we are just people trying their best with the worst circumstances, and to me, that’s beautiful. Rook is a delightful protagonist.

The game allows you to choose who you’re going to be and /how/ you’re going to be thus. You can be cis, you can be trans, you can be neither and you can be both. No limits now.

Which leads me to another point I simply adored: how the questions of gender are treated. It’s really big to have an NB character go through their own acceptance process before our very eyes. While in Origins (and a bit in Inquisition too) you have the choice to be shocked that there are people who like their same gender, this game is Thedas saying “The world is big, the world is complex, and people everywhere are not defined by your expectations or rules. It’s not even an option. Deal with it.”

Regarding the magic, I’m not even mad it looks and feels different. After all, Dorian used to say that “the South is so charming and rustic”, and now I see that’s because what he saw in Ferelden and Orlais was not what he is used to. Even in Absolution we see that the way Tevinter used magic is distinctly unique and not how it is done south of Arlathan. I understand it. I like it. It’s not as if there had been no changes in the designs of demons and darkspawn before, and now that’s what they look like. It’s fine. Time has passed and people are allowed to make different creative choices.

Now, to Solas… Solas. Oh, Solas. I understand you so much better now.

Veilguard really helps put into perspective some bits of dialogue from previous games. Why does this 8-ball care so much about spirits and the Fade? Gods, because he /is/ them, and the Fade used to be his home. Every time he has to hear that spirits are monsters or unreal he takes it personally, and how could he not? People are saying he’s a monster, he’s not real, and nobody knows any better because they wouldn’t believe him anyway. Now I understand why he gets so worked up if you make Cole more human—you’re doing to him what Mythal did to Solas himself. You’re forcing him to be something else and Solas knows it hurts. (Also, Cole is happier as a spirit— “Thank you for helping me find this again. For believing in me. You don't know what it means”, he says, and now it hits so differently.)

I have to remark on some things I’ve read that have shocked me— first of all being the interpretation of Solas and Mythal’s relationship. Like Taash, you can assume “they were doing it”, however, I don’t think they ever loved each other like that. Their bond, to me, is that of a queen and her most loyal knight, a “king and lionheart” sort of situation if you will. Solas knows her better than anyone else, certainly, but the way I see it, that right there is his commander, inspiration and also, his heaviest shackle.

Their relationship merits another post altogether, I believe, as does Solas and Lavellan’s.

All in all, the good, to me, far outweights the bad.

Give the Veilguard a chance before you discard them, enjoy the appearance of some of the characters you love, enjoy getting to know the new heroes. Give yourself the option of having an informed opinion before you love or hate.

Also, petition for Solas to let his hair grow out again.

That's it, for now.

[vigilskeep]

I'm curious what you don't like about dao Leliana? If you've got any posts about it could you please point me in their direction?

i probably have posts somewhere but god knows where they are now. i will present a little overview

and to be clear, because i know this website, this is completely a matter of personal taste in writing and character, i am not, um, cancelling leliana dragonage or having anything but appreciation for those who like her, i am saying i probably wouldn’t want to hang out with her. i am also not attempting to convince anyone or justify anything, i am explaining my own feelings since i have been asked about them. i am going to use language that sounds a little overly harsh because i am trying to express those feelings succinctly without making this post very long by apologising and minimising with caveats about when i do like her

i find her a little grating. i find her characterisation based on her backstory irritatingly inconsistent, with genuinely confusing naivete for someone with a supposedly hardened backstory. she’s a literal bard, and she’s always always on the back foot in dialogue with quicker thinkers who can easily shock and scandalise her, and she believes horrors are too ugly for anyone to write about (literal bard!). i’m also vaguely baffled by the amalgamation of vibes they went for visually, like, idk for example, repeatedly mentioning the supposedly ragged boyish hair of someone incapable of understanding a lack of interest in high fashion and who expresses friendship by talking about nice shoes and hair specifically. it makes me struggle to buy into her as a character, and i find her hard to picture.

i think her compassion for others rings fairly false, possibly just on a poor voice acting level; if they wanted me to believe in it from listening to her dialogue when she chimes in during side quests, they got it wrong, i don’t. those bland comments, as cloying on the tongue as artificial sweetener instead of real sugar, are a let-down when i could have someone more entertaining in the party. i hear her talk and think: i wish i’d brought someone else. and her kindness is often shallow, buying into prejudice easily when left unchecked. which is again, weird for a character whose entire concept is being more worldly than she appears. part of that backstory is also definitely growing up mostly surrounded by elven servants, which makes those biases in that direction even more notable to me than they otherwise would be. she’s someone who’s absorbed in her own internal struggle yet who has never noticed the struggles of those around her until directly confronted. i am constantly disappointed by the missed opportunities with her character, like her mixed cultural identity barely being discussed in a game where the backdrop of the ferelden-orlais conflict being under-explored is to me one of really very few big storytelling mistakes, or like her mechanic where you can ask her about wherever you are—a really fun idea, for a bard!—and she literally never not once has anything interesting to say. like, come onnn. im the worldbuilding enjoyer. hit me with something

some of this is going to be affected also by me having spent the most time with her as my surana, who happens as a character to be a natural born hater, and also predisposed to share some of these feelings. i do find dao leliana much more fun to hang out with when playing a non-elven, non-mage character, but given the in-world context, that in itself is perhaps not a glowing recommendation? (obligatory note again, i am not up in arms that this fictional character has fictional prejudices against fictional people and i in fact think this part is good writing that suits the world. the version of her i adore is, after all, in dai when she has done significantly more wrongs including against elves and mages specifically.) it’s more that kindness should be what leliana has going for her as one of the most prominently good-aligned companions, and i don’t believe in hers. if i’m committing to this being me disliking the character rather than disliking some writing flaw, i could say that i read her compassion as a performance, and that’s something i happen to never really like in a person or character: when they act because they want to look like a good person, and feel like a good person, rather than because they truly care about the impact of their actions. maybe i don’t prefer her in dai because she’s somehow better written; maybe she just drops that mask i don’t care for. hard to say!

also her personal quest has some of the worst writing and acting in the game i never want to hear marjolaine again. please.

[kcwriter-blog]

Since there has been some discussion about how a young Lavellan might interact with Solas, I thought I would chime in with how an older Lavellan might interact with him.

My Lavellan is in her 30s. She has been a First for some time. That means she has been groomed for a leadership position since her teens. At her age, other clan members will be asking her for advice.

She may not be experienced enough to be considered a haren but she is as knowledgeable as any Keeper about elvish history. She knows herself. She knows her people. She is proud to be Dalish.

So she doesn't give a rat's ass what Solas thinks about the Dalish. At first he's just a weird elf who carries himself like one of the Dalish but doesn't even have a valleslin. She's been taught that non-Dalish elves are to be pitied because they have lost their way. Even as far back as Origins we have a haren telling our Warden that when the elves get another homeland it will be up to the Dalish to teach the city elves how to be true elves. So whether she likes it or not, her first impression will be that he is an elf but not a "true" elf.

So while she asks him his opinion, its not because she thinks he knows more, it's just curiosity. What do non-Dalish elves think about elven culture?

She may say that he "insults her people" but that just drives home the fact that she sees him as different. He isn't one of her people. He isn't Dalish.

What he says is irritating but she can forgive him because he hasn't spent much time with the Dalish and his few experiences weren't positive. He can say what he likes. She's heard worse from the shems.

However, being proud to be Dalish doesn't mean she is going to refuse knowledge just because what she has learned is different from what he is telling her.

Dreamers are important to the Dalish. They are rare but they should be listened to. She's also very, very intelligent. She knows the Dalish don't know everything. If they did, they wouldn't be trying so hard to put together the puzzle pieces that are all that remains of her culture.

She is a confident woman. She is mature. She understands her strengths and weaknesses. She knows it isn't weak to ask for help. She knows leadership is about collaboration. In some ways she is more mature than Solas.

So she listens. She compares what she knows with what he tells her and decides for herself if it makes sense or not. She doesn't believe him just because he is older than she is. She takes in knowledge from many sources including the ruins they visit, the scrolls and books in the library, what other elves say. She analyzes the data and comes up with her own set of beliefs.

She views Solas as someone in need of protection. She tells him she will protect him anyway she has to because she knows the shem could imprison him, make him Tranquil or execute him if they feel like it. She is lucky. She has a seat at the table. She chooses to exercise her power by protecting him.

Solas isn't a mentor to her. Yes, he knows a lot and yes, he gives her good advice but so do Cullen, Josephine and Leliana. He is a colleague. She may trust him more because he is an elf. She may spend more time with him because they share some of the same experiences (as far as she knows) but at the end of the day he is basically someone who can help her do her job. It can even be argued that when she becomes Inquisitor she becomes his boss.

Solas may start out thinking of himself as a mentor or at least a teacher but it is not their dynamic. He gives the information freely. She can take it or not. Does he get frustrated if she doesn't listen to him? Sure. I get frustrated with my friends when they don't listen to me but I can't make them.

I think by the time they get to Skyhold they are on a more equal footing. They respect one another. They may even think their first impressions were wrong. And they may fall in love.

I've always seen their relationship as an equal one with a lot of give and take. As players we know who he is but our Lavellans do not. So there is no real power dynamic at play. He isn't her boss. He knows a lot and gives her advice but that does not put him in a position of power over her. He acknowledges that every time he apologizes or concedes to her.

How will she deal with him 10 years later? She has had a lot of time to reflect. She was in a position of power. She realizes he is right. Sometimes there are only terrible choices left. She had to leave Hawk or Alistair in the Fade. Hell, one of her decisions resulted in the destruction of her clan.

So she understands that Solas once had to make a terrible choice. He regrets it the same way she regrets some of her decisions. She knows there are things she would do differently if she could. She would give anything to change some things.

She understands how being in power erases your identity. She knows that sometimes you can become the person everyone believes you to be even if you don't want that. She knows what he went through. She went through the same thing. She knows the world will decide who you are without ever getting to know the real you. She also knows that you can never really leave all of that behind.

With age sometimes comes wisdom. She understands him better now than she did when they first met.

She has had time to learn more about the Veil. She can see that its presence has caused a lot of suffering. She has come to the conclusion that Thedas would be better off without it. She just wants it done in a way that results in as few lives lost as possible.

She has had time to reflect on their relationship. She was very angry at the time but has let it go. She understands why he broke it off. She understands him well enough to know that he is broken and not capable of having a real relationship until he has dealt with his shit.

Her feelings for him have actually deepened because she understands him better now. So when they meet again she isn't going to be plotting his downfall. She's not going to jump into his arms either. There is a lot of water under that bridge. From her perspective they have a job to do. They can talk about their relationship afterwards.

Whatever happens they will deal with it like the mature adults they have always been.

[v-arbellanaris]

i love in hushed whispers, though i definitely think cotj is more fun as a quest, & at the same time i wish the quest were a little less... clunky? a little less one-and-done? retrospectively from trespasser, it's clear that ihw is supposed to parallel solas' own ambitions, but throughout, it also parallels corypheus' decisions to shape the world in the image he knows and is familiar with, and so i really wished those themes had been addressed a little less... clumsily i guess. idk its hard to say but the writing for ihw feels a little loose - the horror of the reality in front of you because it's Wrong and it Shouldn't Be like this, and there are hints of it, but i wish the wrongness had a more visceral impact? i suppose in a lot of ways this was related to game mechanics but hmmmmmm....

slowly starting to hear the song/singing surrounded with red lyrium as you progress through the game, the anchor not working properly/suddenly deteriorating like in trespasser bc of how damaged the veil is, your companions themselves having lyrium growing out of them (+ being "its not as bad as it could be" about it), actually having demons talk to you/try to tempt you as you fight them, reality itself being suddenly flexible (parts of the ground suddenly disappearing or a giant chasm where you have to Believe to cross it - OOOOH something similar to the gauntlet of shar???)....

my fav parts of ihw are when leliana gets furious with you for acting like this world didnt matter and its all just pretend, as if she didnt really suffer. i wish that had been capitalised more - dorian blithely going around saying dont worry we'll go back and erase everything and make none of this matter should have some more impact... more arguments w your companions abt the decision youre about to make to erase everything they know as if everything they suffered wasnt real! i've got a few more ideas but curious abt what everyone else might've wanted to see in ihw

[spawnofbhaal]

So, the worldstate mess. I'm disappointed too: I wanted to see a tomb or monument for the HoF at Weisshaupt, depending on whether they lived or died in DAO. I wanted to hear about how things in the south went over the past 8 years. I wanted to know if a Briala/Celene/Gaspard "alliance" fell apart. I wanted to see a Kieran cameo in a worldstate where he existed. I wanted to see Zevran and Fenris if they were still alive (I'm still huffing copium on Fenris though; if they can make Leliana a lyrium ghost they can certainly do it for him). I wanted to hear Varric talk about Hawke. I wanted to know if a living HoF found a cure for their Calling. I wanted the Well to matter.

However, while I share and understand people's disappointments, I've also been incredibly disappointed in some of the response to this. If it's a deal-breaker for people wanting to buy the game, that's completely understandable. I have my limits too. But folks who suddenly hate the devs and want them to be fired/are happy they lost their jobs need to get a grip on their entitlement. People who hate Solavellans and tell us they hope gruesomely murdering Solas is unavoidable because "why should you be happy when I don't get to see my fave" need to get a grip. When your emotions lead you to treat other real-life people badly, that's a huge red flag, I don't care if it's the internet.

And yeah, I can see why people felt some of the dev comments were insensitive or dismissive (especially after playtesters shared the same criticisms of the worldstate with them ages ago; they knew this was going to be unpopular). I can also see why, after dealing with this fandom for years, the devs' first instinct is to feel attacked and go on the defensive.

Also, the writer/interviewer for that article is a Solavellan. That's why the article mentions it, because they chose to ask about it. I was really excited about that at the time, but now I wish they hadn't, because all it has brought is a new wave of hatred and resentment toward Solavellans. And as a Solavellan, I am certainly not getting everything I wanted. I'm not happy that it sounds like my Inquisitor will be a complete NPC. She might not feel like my character anymore, she might act in ways I can't predict, and I'm terrified and bitter about that.

But I'm grateful that I'm getting any closure at all, because Trespasser did not give me that. It has been a long ten years.

[hyperbali]

I've been tooling around on My Version of the DA canon in regards to Veilguard and here are a few fun things you should know about it

Varric, obviously, survives

He also has Titan stone powers now, which in his opinion is a shit-poor replacement for the fact that the lyrium dagger damaged his pectoralis tendon so badly that he couldn’t pick up a crossbow again even if it were to get fixed (RETIRE, BITCH)

He and Pina were together for a few years, but between how burnt out she was post-Trespasser and Varric’s absolute insistence on finding Solas with full intent to change his mind instead of kill him like she wanted, they went their separate ways

Proserpina Lavellan had since retired to Halamshiral, where she basically kicked the Imperial Court out of the Winter Palace, dared them to stop her (no one has tried), and made it her own

She turned much of the property's land into an ungulate farm (sheep, goats, harts, and halla) and surrounded it with Fen'Harel statues that very specifically have their eyes gouged out

Iron Bull joined her in this retirement; they have their own set of twins! Occasionally the Chargers (now led by Krem) have stopped by to hang out for a few weeks at a time and help take care of the farm

So she's REALLY REALLY REALLY PISSED OFF that she's being forced out of retirement to help deal with TWO MORE of her own damn gods!! Solas when I fucking catch you!!!

Prospero relocated to Minrathous with Dorian, where he basically flaunts his position as a trophy husband and has become a massive pain in the ass for most of the magisters in general while also absolutely charming the general public

In that vein, he's become a fairly lucrative merchant who regularly does business with Xenon the Antiquarian and The Viper

He sent the magic mirror to his twin sister and they talk on the regular

BUT SPEAKING OF ORLAIS

In the aftermath of the incredibly damaging civil war, the loss of pretty much every single upper hierarchy in the Chantry, the rumors of a puppet government (Pina forced a public truce), the installation of such a radical Divine (Leliana), and the mounting cruelty of the chevaliers in an effort to regain control, Orlais is a powder keg

These flames are both fanned and stifled in equal measure by the Bards, who have now become a sort of entity all their own rather than being informal mercenary spies

Rumours abound that at this point, Orlais is the only country in Thedas that wants to be entirely rid of their monarchy - it hasn't escalated into all-out war yet, but it feels inevitable

Given the history of the founding of Orlais, a population desperate for a sense of identity and trust turned to their most vaunted and uniquely Orlesian tradition - that of the Bards

Bards, who have always been largely comprised of commoners hoping to make a decent living, elves wanting to leave the alienages, non-inheriting nobility, the bastardborn, and mages hoping to avoid detection anyway, certainly did not turn up their noses at the idea of becoming a symbol of rebellion

It has now become sort of a point of pride for the Bards to effectively target and slaughter the nobility and chevaliers as creatively as possible - whether that be in the literal or social sense (the Great Game is still held in high regard)

A Bard then has the opportunity to take a trophy from their claimed victory - this trophy is usually whatever fanciful finery that noble owned

As a result, Bards have become increasingly easy to spot because they patchwork pieces of items from their defeated quarry into their ensembles. The more variety and asymmetry to a given outfit, the more targets that Bard has taken

(It’s deeply frowned upon to wear more than one piece from a given victory, or to wear something taken from the estate of someone that particular Bard was not responsible for dealing with)

Basically making a mockery of how important style and flamboyance have always been to the Orlesian nobility by stealing their shit and turning the dial to 11

Some Bards have taken this to mean entirely different materials, textures, and colours - the most 'decorated' of them can look like Alexander McQueen meets Bisa Butler

The really dangerous ones manage that patchwork design, but also look cohesive - meaning they've taken down enough nobles and chevaliers to be able to start matching pieces

Anything not taken as a trophy by a Bard is then free game to be raided and distributed among the people, so tensions are HIGH and security is VERY EXPENSIVE

Divine Victoria publicly denounces all of this but secretly provides information to the Bards when she can

(Yes I am giving you all this setup because the Orlesian Bards are a Faction for a planned companion)

As for Dejana

Yes I'm going to be proceeding with Emmrich as her romance

No I have not decided if she's getting Bone Daddy or Bone Son

Maybe this will end up being a threesome with Varric

Yes she is going to have a lot to explain to the parents she forgot existed for several years in any case

Kieran will also be an installation of the party thanks to Morrigan telling him to watch over his sister but he's pretty much going to usually be in the form of a black sphynx cat (he likes creepy cute)